


I Thought I Knew You

by mechanicaljewel



Category: The Authority
Genre: Beatle!fic, Community: two_of_us_fic, Inspired by Music, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-16
Updated: 2007-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-13 02:38:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechanicaljewel/pseuds/mechanicaljewel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the events of The Authority: Revolution, Apollo is confused and angered over his husband’s mysterious departure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Thought I Knew You

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: DC/Wildstorm owns it, Internet Jesus (aka Warren Ellis) created it, and Ed Brubaker wrote the part I’m jumping off from.
> 
> Written for the [two_of_us_fic](http://two-of-us-fic.livejournal.com/31084.html) challenge, and the lyric prompt:
> 
> Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight  
> You're thinking of me the same old way  
> You were above me, but not today
> 
> from "I'm Looking Through You", off Rubber Soul

Apollo held little Jenny Quantum as she drifted into a fitful sleep, exhausted by a night spent sobbing. They lay together in the bed that he should have been sharing with Midnighter, instead of consoling their daughter over his abrupt and mysterious departure.  And no matter how much he had insisted to the crying child that her Daddy Midnight still loved her, and that it was the grown-ups’ fault that he left, Jenny refused to believe it.

        “But you didn’t do anything!” she had cried into his chest.  “It wasn’t you!”

        “No, but Uncle Jack made a bunch of decisions that Daddy Midnight didn’t like, but everyone else just went along with them, without really listening to what he had to say.”   _Myself included_ , Apollo hadn’t dared to say out loud.

        “It wasn’t you, it wasn’t you,” she had continued to wail, almost as if she hadn’t heard him.

        And now that she was asleep, Apollo finally let his own tears come, however silently.  He wished he could believe as strongly as Jenny did that he had absolutely no effect on Midnighter’s decision to leave, that it was all Jack.  But then why hadn’t he asked Apollo to come, or just quit the Authority but kept living on the Carrier?  With a wry smirk, Apollo acknowledged the impossibility of the latter.  Midnighter was a warrior, through and through.  He wouldn’t be able to sit on the sidelines for very long.  Even during their brief retirement, before the Authority, Apollo would occasionally be awakened in the early hours of the morning as Midnighter crawled back into bed, smelling of blood and sweat.

        “If you’re not going to invite me,” Apollo had finally murmured one night, “the least you could do is shower before coming back to bed.”  Midnighter had merely chuckled and kissed him, but from then on he had included Apollo in his excursions.

        That had been eight years ago.  How could he just walk out after all this time?  Surely he hadn’t stopped loving him?  Of course not. Apollo was sure of it.  Only the night before he had…

        Apollo’s heart stopped as he recounted the previous night.  The hot kisses that had trailed down his neck.  The deft fingers that had traced every contour of his body, memorizing it.  The current that ran between them as he stroked, sucked, and thrust into him, the whole time murmuring “I love you, I love you, I’ll always love you.”

        That bastard.  He had been planning it.  It wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment act of defiance against Jack.  He knew that last night was their last night together, and he hadn’t even bothered to inform Apollo, let alone tell him  _why_ , goddammit.  He began to glow with rage, wanting to hit something. Jenny stirred in his arms.  Not wanting to wake her up, Apollo forced himself to calm down with some Zen breathing.  No need to tell her that her other daddy was a thoughtless and cowardly prick who wouldn’t include his husband in the most earth-shattering decision of their lives, leaving him to raise her alone.  No need to make her hate him, although it would be nice if somebody did, because despite everything, Apollo could not convince himself to hate Midnighter.

        Answers.  He needed answers.  Midnighter made his decisions in life the same way he made them in combat, looking from every possible angle, at every possible outcome.  This had to have been the only way…to do what? Apollo would find him, and get those answers.

        When the Carrier turned in its orbit around Earth to give Apollo and Jenny a semblance of dawn, she stirred and opened a bleary eye at her daddy, who hadn’t slept at all.

        “Jenny, we’re going to leave, too,” he told her.  “We’re going to find a house on Earth, get you enrolled in school, maybe get a puppy…” he trailed off as he searched her face for a reaction.

        Finally, she nodded.  “We shouldn’t stay on the Carrier for long.  Things are going wrong in her.”

        Apollo ruffled her hair.  _Things are going wrong everywhere_ , he thought.

        After another minute of silence, Jenny spoke, “Daddy Midnight always wanted to do that.  Do you think he’ll come back if we do?"

        Apollo wished he could give a better answer.  “We’ll find out, sweetie.  We’ll find out.”


End file.
